PROSECUTOR’S RETIREMENT TIED TO END OF PROBE

“To me, essentially giving this guy a soft boot out the door is a statement they knew what he was doing was wrong,” Patton said. “How far they wanted to go in their investigation, and why they didn’t go further, I think that’s an interesting question.”

In her federal lawsuit, McAnally has accused the office of covering up Marugg’s behavior to protect grants that the office receives for prosecuting fraud cases. The District Attorney’s Office says such claims are “baseless” and that it handled Marugg’s matter appropriately.

Donne Cox, the lawyer who filed the federal suit for Tamara McAnally, said the email from Castle is revealing.

“It certainly appears there was a quid pro quo,” he said. “The DA’s office agreed not to go to the State Bar with this information in return for Marugg agreeing to retire.”

Marugg was facing a misconduct hearing for violating internal policies, including having inappropriate relations with former defendants. More than 30 people were prepared to testify at the hearing, according to the email.